Promoting Literary Fiction

The Sunday New York Times had a story about promoting literary fiction that drives home several few points.

1. Book promotion -- at least, of literary fiction -- depends on the support of a major publisher.

2. Even with the support of a major publisher, book promotion doesn't guarantee books sales.

3. Publishers can promote only a finite number of books per season, and that means some novelists -- even those with an excellent track record -- won't make the cut.

4. Even when a novel belongs to such a luminary as Philip Roth, it helps to have a nonfiction news hook (as did "The Plot Against America," which received all kinds of media attention because it was perceived to have political overtones).

Major houses lay plans for their A-list literary novels, and editors compete with one another within their own publishing companies to push their book ahead of all of the other competing books in the catalogue. If it's this difficult for a mainstream literary novel to succeed, can you imagine what it takes for a self-published book in the same genre to have a chance? This is why so many book publicists are reluctant to promote novels.

The Biggest Book Promotion Party of the Year.

The annual bookselling convention, BEA, is the largest book promotion party of the year. It's a chance for publishers and authors to get their wares before booksellers and rights buyers from all around the world. And it all begins this afternoon at 4:00PM in Washington, DC. If you're not one of the lucky people who gets to attend BEA this year -- and, as the owner and operator of a one-person book promotion firm, I'm not one of the lucky people who gets to attend BEA this year -- you can read about the event all over the news, including at the Washington Post's Web site.

It's never too early to start planning to attend next year's BEA, if you're so inclined. Who knows? Maybe I'll see you there.

Would Desperate Housewives want to read your book?

Here's a book promotion scenario to make television show addicts squirm. Your publisher realizes that buying a commercial for your book during Desperate Housewives (or another TV show) will be ineffective because so many viewers use the latest technology to skip commercials. Therefore, your publisher instead pays the producer of the TV show to incorporate your book into the plot. Your book then becomes the reason Gabrielle is so unhappy, or Susan chases the wrong man. Your book wins, but the show suffers, and let's face it. Which do you care more about: book promotion or your favorite television show?

Okay, never mind that question. Still, you might want to check out MSNBC.com's article about product placement on television shows. The practice has been going on nearly as long as television has existed. I can still hear Lawrence Welk interrupting his show to explain why the benefits that viewers would derive from taking Geritol, or the goofiness of watching members of the original Star Trek crew acting oddly excited about some of their props that were being marketed as toys that season.

But that was before TiVo and other technologies have made commercials a difficult way to sell things, and have inadvertently encouraged soda companies and other vendors to get creative in their promotion efforts. Could the next product sold on a network television program be your book? Stay tuned.

The book publisher did it.

Who committed an act of libel? Was it the author of Paperback Poison: the Romance Writer and the Hit Man or its publisher, AuthorHouse? According to Claire Kirch's article in PW Daily, the book publisher did it.

Here's what's interesting to me. AuthorHouse doesn't call itself a publishing house. On its home page, AuthorHouse bills itself as a team of "author advocates" who can "help you choose the best book publishing options and the most effective marketing tools."

In other words, AuthorHouse allows authors to self publish, and they don't impose editorial standards on their clients' work.

AuthorHouse may have provided the mechanism that allowed a libelous book to be printed and marketed. But if I'd been on that Kansas jury, I would have noted that a company like AuthorHouse doesn't evaluate its clients' work, and probably doesn't even read it. That's the business model, and while it may leave book reviewers scratching their heads, it would seem to exonerate AuthorHouse from responsibility if anything goes wrong.

I'm surprised at the verdict. A jury said that the book publisher did it, but I wonder. What will this do to the future of print-on-demand publishing? If I were iUniverse, I'd be scared now. I'd be very scared.

A Surprise from Bowker

The BusinessWire story's headline reads: "U.S. Book Production Plummets 18,000 in 2005, According to Bowker Statistics; Smaller Publishers Show the Largest Drop in New Titles...."

The decline in U.S. book production is the first since 1999, according to the story, which gets its information from Bowker's Books in Print database.

Fewer books means fewer authors promoting books, which could be good news for your next book promotion campaign. But before you book that flight for Chicago or New York, remember that every author (and every book publicist) in North America is still pitching story ideas to Oprah, Today, Good Morning America, the View, and so forth.

With the costs of paper and transportation rising, it probably should come as no surprise that publishers, large and small, are being especially cautious these days. And who knows? That may eventually lead to explosive growth in the world of ebooks.

One way or another, the media will find the authors it needs to speak as experts about every topic under the sun. Will the shrinking number of new books cause less competition among publishers and authors for book promotion opportunities? Stay tuned.

Online Book Promotion

Here's yet another reason to emphasize online book promotion campaigns over traditional book promotion campaigns. According to a new CNN.com article, the circulation of most (not all, but most) newspapers slipped still further in the last six months. The New York Times and USA Today's circulation has climbed slightly, but other newspapers -- including the San Francisco Chronicle and the Boston Globe -- have lost subscribers.

No book publicist would recommend avoiding newspapers and pursuing only online venues. But the truth is that newspapers are becoming less relevant while their online counterparts are becoming better trafficked all the time. Book promotion campaigns must include pitches to online venues as well as the bricks-and-mortar publications.

At the very least, there's no longer any need for an author to complain that an article mentioning his or her book appears "only online." Online is getting to be a more important venue every day.

Riddle: How do you get a bibliophile interested in switching to ebooks?

Give up? The way you get a bibliophile to jettison those precious paper relics and embrace the digital revolution is to tell him or her that books are now being made of elephant dung. You then let the image, um, ferment in the bibliophile's imagination.

Here‘s my proof from Sentinel.com that some enterprising Thai, elephant-embracing activitists are , indeed, making paper from elephant dung (well, you didn't think I'd make up a thing like that, did you?). The story goes on to suggest that cow poop and bison messes may be the next frontier.

Try putting adding those books to your valuable collections, book lovers! Not the sort of reading copy you'd bring to the beach, is it? Or snuggle with under the covers, flashlight in hand?

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that a book made from animal feces is ineligible for book promotion -- far from it. I'm just saying that I'm probably not the best candidate to handle those particular book promotion campaigns. Too squeamish, am I.

The Senator's Book Publicist

Who is Senator Ted Kennedy's book publicist? That's the question that was on my mind when I read an article in this morning's Boston Globe Magazine about Ted's new children's book.

In the article's second Q&A, the senator mentions his son, Congressman Patrick Kennedy. Here's the context. Ted tells us that Patrick's asthma is one of the reasons why Ted and his wife, Vicki, acquired the "non-allergic" dog, Splash, who is the subject of children's book Ted is currently promoting.

As someone who understands the motto, "the show must go on," I can sympathize with Ted's wanting his book promotion campaign to move ahead despite the personal problems he faces. However, I have a hard time understanding why Ted's book publicist may have thought the timing of this particular book promotion "hit" was a good idea.

Ted's asthmatic son, Patrick, was recently admitted to a drug rehab program a day or two after he was involved in a car accident. There are those who believe that Patrick should have been given a breathalizer test at the scene of the car accident. Additionally, there are those who say that Patrick has given conflicted statements about the quantity, and quality, of his memories of the car accident and what may have precipitated it.

In other words, Patrick is having serious problems right now, and since Patrick is Ted's son, it would be a fair statement that Ted is having serious problems right now as well. And what is Ted doing right now, as he sips his morning coffee? You guessed it. He's reading an article about his children's book.

There's a time to promote books and a time to not promote books. In my opinion, when your son is having serious problems is a good time to suspend a book promotion campaign for your children's book.

Maybe the senator's book publicist asked the Boston Globe Magazine's editor to kindly pull the article, and the editor refused. That would certainly call into question the editor's judgment, wouldn't it?

Ah, well. I'm a great fan of children's books, but I wasn't in the market to buy Ted's book, anyway . . . even before I saw that his son's drug problems didn't put a dent in his book promotion campaign efforts.

Blurbs -- Book Publicity or Editorial?

In practice, most book promotion campaigns begin about three months before a book's publication date. Therefore, as a book promotion specialist, I don't get involved in securing endorsements for books that I promote. That's an editorial function, and it's handled either by the book's editor or the author him- or herself.

That allows me to say, with impunity, that I got a chuckle out of the May 3, 2006 Dogmatika post titled "This book will not change your life." It discusses the fact that blurbs have become meaningless, since all books have blurbs that sound alike -- and they all sound over-the-top and difficult to swallow.

All readers have their own pet peeves when it comes to "blurbsters" -- the authors who apparently are willing to endorse anything, from fast food restaurants' placemats to books that were seemingly written in Sanskrit. In fact, books of a certain genre that lack an endorsement by these habitual "blurbsters" seem naked. Why didn't so-and-so endorse this book, a reader might wonder. Does it truly stink or something? Or is the author just completely out-of-the-loop?

When disingenuous praise of a book is mandatory, and a book looks naked without a blurb by specific blurbsters, you know something is goofy. Perhaps it's time to start a new trend in book marketing: honesty on book covers. How about if we see blurbs like this? "My husband wrote this novel, and I haven't actually read it yet, but darn, he worked hard on it, and I truly hope you'll support his efforts by taking a chance and buying the book."

Perhaps it won't wash, but you know what? I do wish that it would.

The Rising Costs of Book Promotion

Is the cost of book promotion increasing? Yes, if the price of stamps rises again. The Associated Press story, which made it onto MSNBC.com, is threatening a three cent increase for first class stamps beginning as early as May of 2007. It doesn't mention the projected cost of mailing a flat-rate Priority envelope, which is the preferred mailing method of most book publicists with whom I've worked.

As snail-mailings become increasingly expensive, I'm growing increasingly fond of finding new ways to promote books online. (Of course, the pundits are always working on a way to charge us for sending emails -- and, some day, they might just figure out a practical way to do it.) Still, even in book promotion campaigns that rely heavily on online publicity strategies, interviewers will need copies of the book, and the least expensive way to send those books is to use the U.S. Postal Service.

Rate increases mean that the price of book promotion campaigns increase. There's no way around it. So if you're planning to promote your book in the summer of 2007 or thereafter . . . consider yourself forewarned.

When You Can Get Audiobooks for Free

If you could get audiobooks for free, and if the process were as simple as bringing your MP3/WMA player into your local public library's computer and click on the right icons -- would you? That's the challenge posed for Boston-area library patrons by this story. Apparently, the Boston Public Library is the first library in New England to use OverDrive Download Stations. And, to add to the temptation, BPL library card holders don't even have to visit the library itself. Instead, we can log onto http://overdrive.bpl.org and snag our freebies there.

Some of the publishers who have contributed to the library's catalogue are: Brilliance Audio, Blackstone Audiobooks, HarperAudio, and Time Warner Audiobooks. If they're okay with making their work available to patrons for free through the Boston Public Library, then who am I do balk at the opportunity?

I'm a self-admitted book junkie, and yes, I like books. I love books. I want books. I need books.

But ... I also like authors. I need authors. And authors need book publicists to promote their books, not to help libraries give their books away for free.

What happens to royalty statements now, in this age of "Sure, I'll take that book for free. Why not?" That remains to be seen, I suppose.

In the meantime, I'll check out that Digital Library Reserve page. But I'm not ready to download anything quite yet.

Here's My Wish for All Books.

My tongue-in-cheek wish for all your book projects is that it be either plagerized or banned by a major world religion. The book promotion value of either of those events just can't be overstated. What happens when a Harvard student plagerizes your book? Sales shoot up. And what happens when the Vatican urges all good Catholics to stay away from a particular book (and now movie)? You know the answer to that one.

Ron Howard and his fellow movie-makers must be gleeful about the fact that his latest movie, "The Da Vinci Code" (which is opening on May 15 -- reserve the date now!), has been placed firmly on the Vatican's poop list (here's the Reuter's story on the topic). Of course, the book upon which the movie is based has long been on that list. That has to make Dan Brown a happy, as well as very wealthy, camper.

Here's what I wonder. Did Ronnie slip the Pope a quick million dollars or so to get the movie "banned?" Or is the Pope freely goading all of us to see the movie and trusting that a big, fat check from Ron Howard will follow? In any case, I think now would be a good time for both Mr. Brown and Mr. Howard to write thank-you notes to the Vatican. It's the least they can do for all the great publicity the Vatican has bought for them.

Here's Another Way to Promote Your Book.

Here's another way to promote your book: hope that another writer -- preferably a Harvard sophomore wunderkind (such as the now-infamous Kaavya Viswanathan) who's been awarded a three-book contract by Little, Brown -- to plagarize it. I can't be the only voracious reader out there who has both of Megan McCafferty's books (“Sloppy Firsts” and “Second Helpings”) on order.

In a situation like this, do you suppose that McCafferty owes Viswanathan a cut of her forthcoming royalty checks? I always thought George Carlin owed Mike Barnicle (Boston's own renowned word-borrower) a hefty portion of the proceeds from "Brain Droppings."

If only ... if only ... if only a high-profile person would rip off the words of one of my clients, that author's book would virtually promote itself. This publicist can only hope she, and her clients, have that kind of luck.

There's a New Media Outlet Born Every Minute.

There's a new media outlet born every minute. But did we really need another one that features Martha Stewart?

As professionals who are intent upon book promotion -- and who are always looking for new venues to carry news items about our books' topics and areas of expertise -- it's worth noting that Martha's latest publication is called Blueprint, and it just went on sale to the public yesterday. Its target audience is younger than the Martha Stewart Living's demographic. You can read about Blueprint on MSBNC.com, if you're so inclined.

Look, I'm as eager as you are to find new outlets for promoting books. Really. If I sound cranky, it's only because I wish fewer new media outlets had convicted felons as their spokespeople rather than, say, people with whom we might enjoy doing business.

Oh, well.

Book Promotion - The Wrong Way

Have you heard about the latest brilliant writer who's been accused of wrongdoing? This kind of publicity, you don't need.

Too bad it's a Harvard woman this time.

Book Promotion Budget Under $100?

If your book promotion budget is less than $100, you can't afford to hire a book publicist. But that doesn't mean you can't afford to promote your book.

Do-it-yourself book promotion campaigns consist of:

* writing your own press materials
* compiling your own media lists
* getting contact information for those media targets
* isolating story ideas and news hooks
* creating a pitch
* scheduling media interviews
* following up

If you know your way around promotion, then you have an edge on authors who don't. But you still may want to learn key trade secrets, such as how to pitch the producers at the Oprah show or how to reach the editors at USA Today. Whether you're looking for tips on how to create the perfect pitch or ways to tap the book marketing potential of the Web, you might be able to find what you need at a pricet you can afford.

With several partners, I've just launched a book promotion tools site for those who want to publicize their books but can't afford to hire a book publicist (or who want to continue a book promotion campaign after a contract with a book publicity firm has run its course). The site is BookPromotionTools.com, and it's one way you might begin a book promotion campaign on a shoestring.

Another way to begin a modest book promotion campaign is to make a list of local media outlets, open up the phone book, and get contact information for each of those venues. When you can't afford to have a book promotion specialist do it for you, roll up your sleeves and get to work. A tight budget is no reason to delay promoting your book!

If Norman Mailer Had Asked Me...

If Norman Mailer had asked me, I would have told him to re-think the subtitle on his novel, The Big Empty : Dialogues on Politics, Sex, God, Boxing, Morality, Myth, Poker and Bad Conscience in America. Just whom, I would have asked him, do you expect to remember that subtitle? Do you even have it committed to memory? How do you expect that subtitle to just roll off the tongues of television and radio show hosts, and how do you propose that magazines and newspapers find space for it?

Then again, if Norman Mailer had asked me, I would have told him that nearly all the titles of his books (The Executioner's Song, The Naked and the Dead, et al.) were too depressing.

I'm right about the fact that Norman Mailer's book titles (and, in this case, his subtitle) aren't optimized for their book promotion value. But, okay, I will concede that, overall, Norman Mailer's career as a novelist has been pretty much on track -- even though he hasn't listened to my advice with regard to his books' titles and subtitles.

To Create a Book Web Site

I've become a big believer in having a Web site for every book. Over the past few years, the media's tenuous question of "Is there a Web site for the book, by any chance?" has morphed into a matter-of-fact, "What's the book's URL?" Books without Web addresses have come to be regarded with as much suspicion and bewilderment as -- well -- as adults without phone numbers.

· So I've been insisting that my clients, and all other authors and publishers with whom I network, that they create Web sites for their books. The response from most of these people is, "Well, fine. Just tell me what needs to go on my Web site."

That question puts me into a strange situation, since I'm not a Web site designer. But, as a book promotion specialist, I can suggest to authors and publishers that these would be the ideal components of a book's Web site:

· A home page that includes descriptive content and a book cover (an author's photo might be nice, too, if the Web designer can fit it in).

· An excerpt

· Original bylined articles or other content (if book you're promoting is nonfiction)

· Online buying links (either to Amazon.com or BN.com, or both)

· Media page with a downloadable media kit, book cover, and author photos (both black-and-white and color)

· Guestbook

· Blog (you can get started for free at www.blogger.com)

· Sign-up page with opt-in mailing list manager

If you’re building your site in stages (and many authors and publishers do), then it's best to include whichever components your Web designer can create the most quickly. For many people, that's the home page, media page, and online buying links.

I have one more recommendation about building a Web site for books, and don't shoot the messenger, please. I'm sure your son/daughter/nephew/niece/neighbor/friend's child is as cute as punch and even more talented than Picasso, but he or she will not have the ability to design a high-quality site for your book. In fact, the high school/college student may do more harm than good, because whatever he/she creates, the search engines are bound to find -- and that Web site, with all its rough edges, is going to reflect how the media and potential buyers see your book.

Don't let your book pay the price because you'd rather not invest in a "real" Web site for your book. Yes, I twist arms to get people to realize that they need Web sites for their books. But I ask...no, I beg...people to realize that a Web site designed by a nonprofessional young person is worse than no Web site at all.

Does Book Promotion Increase Book Sales?

Does book promotion increase book sales? Probably. But should you hire a book publicist only for the purpose of increasing book sales? Probably not.

Here's why. A book promotion specialist doesn't sell books. He or she arranges media interviews, book reviews, article placements, search engine maximization, and the like. This raises the visibility of your book and your Web site. That may drive book sales, and it usually does. But, when it does, that's a great benefit of book promotion, but your book publicist will hope and trust it's not the only benefit you are receiving from the campaign.

Your book publicist will assume that you are promoting your book to disseminate your messages to as many people as possible. That's why you want to be on the air, and that's why you want to be quoted as an expert in newspaper and magazine articles, and that's why you want people to find your site through Google and other search engines. You have something to say, and your book is one outlet for saying it; the mass media provides additional venues for you to spread your messages.

In addition, many authors believe their visibility in the media will lead to great opportunities such as offers from corporations (perhaps speaking engagements or endorsement projects), additional clients or customers, or enhanced credibility in the professional world. This is usually what happens.

You benefit from media appearances in a myriad of ways. Book sales, when and if they happen, are a wonderful fringe benefit of your book promotion campaign. But they can't be the only reason why you hire a book promotion specialist.

An author from a mainstream publishing house was recently in discussions with me about promoting her book. She thought my book promotion plan looked great. Finally, she wanted to know how many books it would sell. I was taken aback by the question.

Another book publicist might have taken a guess and added a disclaimer such as "but no one really knows for sure." However, I opted to tell the author the whole truth which was that book sales weren't my area of expertise, and therefore, I had no idea of what number to give her. I could guess how many radio interviews I might be able to arrange for her (and that would only be a guess, because it's impossible to predict how radio show producers will respond to a particular pitch). But I couldn't make even a wild guess about how many books she'd sell if she hired me.

I received her emailed response earlier today. She asked me for a referral to a book publicist whose focus was on selling books.

Of course, I responded that there's no such book publicist. Distributors and salespeople sell books. (In the case of her book, since she's working through a major publishing company, she can't even hire an independent distributor -- she'll have to put her complete faith in the capabilities of her publisher.) Book promotion specialists arrange media appearances and reviews.

What I could have done, I suppose, is refer her to a book promotion firm that's able to toss around figures and promises that come from nowhere and are utterly meaningless. However, I don't have the heart to do that.

No, I don't want her as a client, because her goals are not in line with what I can provide for her, and the last thing in the world I want is a disappointed client. But another thing I don't want is for a book publicity firm to take advantage of her by, basically, telling her what she wants to hear.

What would King Solomon do in this situation? Hmmm.

Children's Books: A Family Business

Since it's a legal holiday here in Massachusetts, I'm taking a twenty-second break from business to tell you about something cool that I just learned. Thacher Hurd is a children's book artist and author. If you know the name "Hurd," you probably associate it with Clement Hurd. Does the name sound familiar? It should, if you were ever a kid or knew anyone who was. Clement Hurd illustrated "Goodnight Moon" and, more importantly, "Runaway Bunny" (because I say it's more important, that's why!), those children book classics that were written by Margaret Wise Brown.

Writing and illustrating children's books is not a get-rich-quick scheme. Therefore, there's something wonderful about the fact that there's another generation in the Hurd family who's willing to throw his talent and skill into the pool, and take his chances on trying to change children's lives for the better.

I don't know Thacher Hurd personally, and I've never represented his work, but I'd urge you to take a look at his Web site and see what he's up to. Click here if you're curious and then -- well, have a carrot.